Mr K. Ganesh
Large is a word that serial entrepreneur, Mr K. Ganesh, loves. “Think big. Even if you fail, it should be spectacular,” is the advice to aspiring entrepreneurs, from a man who has steered four large successful ventures in the last ten years. You could say his latest deal with the Pearson Group for a stake sale in his online tutoring firm TutorVista, for Rs 577 crore, gives him the nerve to talk of failure with such calmness. However, he reminds you that while four of his ventures have been runaway successes, he has rejected 25 other ideas and “honestly, hobbies should not be made into ventures,” he says, in a lighter vein.
While entrepreneurship seems beckoning to a young professional living in a country of 1.3 billion people, it's ironical that the Indian entrepreneur is still at crossroads, says Mr Ganesh. The stigma attached to failure in Indian society is sure to inhibit his/her aspirations and curb his/her ambitions. The Indian ecosystem is not geared for entrepreneurship, which, he feels, would change with appropriate Government intervention in the form of bank loans without strict collaterals, and VCs entering at an earlier stage into ventures than they are doing now.
“I think the unemployment problem could only be solved through entrepreneurship,” says the man who has created jobs for almost 30,000 people, through his ventures.
Business schools in the country go all out to woo companies for campus placements, make very little effort to foster the spirit of entrepreneurship, says the IIM-Calcutta graduate. On his role as a mentor for aspiring entrepreneurs, he says although he does spend time with The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) and has mentored a few ventures, he confesses that he needs to do more.
His first venture IT&T was started with the money he got after selling his car. He is also the founder of CustomerAsset, one of the first BPOs in the country, which was ultimately sold to ICICI in 2002. His third company, Marketics, a marketing analytics firm was sold to WNS Holdings in 2007. Last week, UK-based Pearson Group acquired a controlling stake in his fourth venture, online tutoring company TutorVista.
Mr Ganesh says the Pearson deal was not just for financial reasons. “The Pearson brand is active in 60 countries, which gives TutorVista captive customers in these markets,” he explains. The tutoring company has 2,000 teachers who coach nearly 20,000 students in the US, UK and some parts of Asia.
TutorVista's Indian subsidiary Edurite, headed by Mr Ganesh's wife, Meena, runs schools and tutorial centres in India, which would have access to Pearson content at affordable prices, he says. Manipal Education and Medical Group and Sequoia Capital, the other investors in the company have successfully exited the company, making Mr Ganesh and Pearson the owners of TutorVista now.
TutorVista has, so far, completed five million tutoring sessions and has coached more than 100,000 students. Mr Ganesh will continue to be the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and a Director on the TutorVista board. “My vision is to get the company a $1-billion valuation in three years, from the present $230 million.” Mr Ganesh has also started putting together plans for online tutoring for medical and engineering entrance exams, a growing market in India.
He sees huge potential in the education space in India, which currently has 524 million students, a figure higher than China and almost double that of the US. If this reason is not convincing enough, the second rationale would make any aspiring entrepreneur dream big in education: The average Indian family's No 2 spend is on education, compared with an American family where spend on education is at No 7 in the family budget.
“They spend more on music and movie DVDs,” he points out. Mr Ganesh's driver, for instance, spends almost 40 per cent of his income on education for his two children, he says.
This coupled with the challenges of the Indian education system, in terms of lack of infrastructure and teachers and the wide geographical dispersion of schools, makes the use of technology imperative. Fortunately for entrepreneurs like Mr Ganesh, the penetration of technology in education is miniscule, a mere 9 per cent, which makes the prospect of success huge.
These are also the reasons valuations of education and training companies are high and very attractive, he says.
Incidentally, TutorVista's valuation stood at Rs 1,000 crore. “As parents and entrepreneurs, Meena and I realised the huge opportunity this scenario presented and dived into it.”
On other areas that could yield success for today's entrepreneur, Mr Ganesh says healthcare, finishing schools and training schools will do well.
Apart from accessing students in other countries with Pearson as an associate, TutorVista will look at public-private partnerships with the Government in India, to take technology-enabled education to students of these schools.
To a question on when should one dive into entrepreneurship, he cites the instances of Mr Bill Gates and Mr Michael Dell, who started quite early. “If you are from a business family, then you start early. My personal advice is to get into a job, but quit before you get into the trappings of the job, such as salary and perks.” Do not put out the flame of entrepreneurship, but, at the same time, think big, he says.
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